Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji

I’ve been reading Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji as you all know and I just want to post a few pages here from chapter 11.

I’m sorry I just had to!! ><

I was reading this whole part in a classroom, so I had to contain my excitement when I saw that last page ^^

About this story, it has all the genres that I like in it (comedy, romance, shoujo, school life) but I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster reading it.

The female lead, Shinohara Erika is likeable enough and she’s like the typical shoujo female lead. A little dumb, but always optimistic and cute enough to get her by. The problem here is the male lead. Sata Kyouya is like the typical male lead in some ways too; popular, handsome and cool. The only problem I have with him is that he can be unbelievably mean and tactless to Erika. I mean, just because the girl can take the abuse doesn’t mean that the guy can continue being mean to her. No matter what mean things Kyouya may say to her, Erika always finds a way to pick herself up even though her first reaction to his crude words would be to cry. It’s her optimism and devotion to Kyouya that keeps her going and that’s what I admire about her. Though others may just say that she’s dumb enough to stay by such a cynical guy’s side.

So how did the story start out? It all started with Erika who desperately wanted a boyfriend since both her 2 good friends have boyfriends and the only thing they ever talked about were their boyfriends. Erika brags about her imaginary boyfriend to her friends but since her friends have never seen what her boyfriend looks like, they grow suspicious. Desperate not to blow her cover, Erika walks out on the streets and randomly takes a photo of a handsome looking guy. Unfortunately for her, the guy sees it and confronts her but Erika pulls out the old trick of ‘What’s that?’ while pointing elsewhere and makes a run for it.

She goes to school the next day and shows the guy’s picture to her friends who think that the guy looks really familiar. Just then, they recall who he is and the guy turns out to be Class 8’s Sata Kyouya, who is in the same school as them. Panicked, Erika rushes him off to a secluded area and relates to him the whole situation in hope that he will pretend to be her boyfriend. Kyouya agrees, however in return, Erika must become his dog. He even makes her do ridiculous things that he’d make a real dog do, it’s honestly degrading in my opinion.

But Erika has no choice so she concedes and so they start their dating farce.

Their relationship is perfect on the outside, but away from people’s eyes, Kyouya is cynical, mean, cold and indifferent towards Erika. Throughout the chapters I’ve read so far, Erika is seen and proven to be easily pleased at little things and she gives others her trust easily. But it’s because of these traits that she ends up getting hurt most of the time. Kyouya would make fun of her, saying suggestive things that would get her hopes up and then later smash her hopes saying something like ‘as if I would ever say that’. There was one time whereby Kyouya went too far and it resulted in Erika angrily splashing him with water in the face. I can’t say I blame her.

Yep, you should never play around with a girl’s feelings like that you stupid idiot. Kyouya’s such a difficult guy to handle, I don’t know what Erika sees in him. He hates crowds, he hates sweet things, he hates events, he hates anything that requires effort, I’m going to call him the Absolute Hater. Erika also has a limit and she ‘breaks up’ with him at one point. She eventually gets back together with him as his real girlfriend though, because she realises that she does love him and that she can’t possibly bring herself to hate him because when he smiles, he truly does seem sincere and that he cares.

See, manga, I hate you for making me hate this Absolute Hater so much THEN making me feel like I CAN’T hate the guy after all because he looks so different when he shows us his rare smiles. That’s probably the same way Erika feels about Kyouya too. Which is really annoying. I don’t know how much of this love-hate relationship I’m going to continue with this manga because Kyouya is so darn unpredictable.

What do I mean by unpredictable? He does things that are absolutely unfair to Erika after saying such mean, hurtful things to her. Like coming by her house and saying that he’s going to make her understand her position as his dog again by giving her a collar. And he ends up putting on her a beautiful necklace.

He goes on to say ‘This is a symbol that you are mine. So don’t you ever forget that.’ And it’s enough to send Erika into another flood of tears, thinking silently to herself

‘That’s so sly. Once again, you’ve made it impossible for me to leave you.’

ARRRRGGHHHHH. Kyouya I seriously hate you, that was SO unfair, I want to fling a table at your pretty face

The only character who I find is likeable and sane is Hibiya Takeru, Kyouya’s buddy. He is really nice, always giving Erika new opportunities for her to get together with Kyouya (at first) or helping out our useless main leads by giving either one advice.

Despite all that I hate about the Absolute Hater, there are moments whereby he seems to display jealousy, though he doesn’t make it obvious. He passes it off easily and coolly, so Erika can’t be sure if he’s really jealous or not but she likes to think so of course. What I really dislike about Kyouya is that he refuses to show that he likes Erika. Even though he does surprising stuff like hug her or kiss her, his following words seem to mean otherwise. He is so not a man. I guess I’m just like Erika when she tells Kyouya’s mother and sister what she likes about Kyouya in chapter 20:

‘Even if you ask me what I like about him, it really is complicated and rather hard to put into words.

There are many things that I like and dislike about him, but the parts which I dislike about him, I actually do like them as well and that kind of frustrates me.’

I hate Kyouya for being so uncomprehendingly nice to Erika and unfair to take advantage of her naivety yet at the same time, I just can’t hate him for unknown reasons.

In conclusion, this manga is pretty decent. I can’t say that I really like it but I can’t really say I hate it either. Such is the love-hate relationship I have with this manga. Although, Kyouya’s character is so unlikeable, I wouldn’t want to re-read this again. The only thing that will save this manga for me is if he smiles more and gradually shows a softer side to him in the future chapters. Which I hope will happen. I’d rate this manga a 6.5/10 for now, though I hope future chapters will change my mind later on.